Spiral Mountain is a world featured in every game in the Banjo-Kazooie series to date, which gets its name from the large spiral-shaped mountain at its center. The level is Banjo and Kazooie's homeland, and the former homeland of their nemesis Gruntilda Winkybunion.

Players start off here in all of the games, and the level generally functions as a tutorial for new players, teaching them basic controls and moves to help them through the game.

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Games

Spiral Mountain is introduced in Banjo-Kazooie, where it is depicted as a grassy and pastoral world featuring many trees and yellow flowerbeds, tilled soil for growing vegetables, a quarry, a small lake with two waterfalls, and a central moat around the world's eponymous spiral mountain. Banjo's quaint cottage house is situated in one corner of Spiral Mountain. A gigantic rock sculpture of Gruntilda's face can be found hewn into the cliffside at the opposite end of the level, which serves as the entrance to Gruntilda's Lair.

Banjo lives in Spiral Mountain with his pal Kazooie, his sister Tooty, and their goldfish Roysten. After Gruntilda the witch kidnaps Tooty, Bottles the short-sighted mole helps train Banjo and Kazooie in learning some of the game's basic moves. After the events of the game, Gruntilda ends up buried under a boulder in Spiral Mountain, beneath the entrance to her lair.

Two months after Banjo-Kazooie, Klungo rescues Grunty from her grave by building a mechanical suit for her ghost to possess. Her body still buried underground, Mecha-Grunty kidnaps present-day Kazooie and travels around 20 years into the past to prevent Banjo and Kazooie from ever meeting, thereby undoing her defeat at the end of Banjo-Kazooie. Hoping to prevent Grunty from altering history, Banjo is sent back in time with the help of Mumbo Jumbo's magic.

The Spiral Mountain of the past functions as the hub world of this game. This version of Spiral Mountain is divided into three sub-areas: Spiral Mountain (the vegetable patch/quarry area), Spiral Rise (the central mountain/moat/lair/tree-stumps area), and Spiral Mere (the lake/waterfall area). While the world's layout is roughly the same as in Banjo-Kazooie, its features are significantly different in this era: Banjo's house has yet to be built, but the cliffs above its site are sandy and feature an entrance to Breegull Beach. The vegetable patch area has an entrance to Cliff Farm, with Jiggywiggy's Temple located beside it. The area usually filled with tree stumps is now swampy, with a gnarled tree granting access to Bad Magic Bayou. The lake area is now surrounded with patches of lava and ice, and has entrances to Spiller's Harbor and Freezing Furnace. A statue of the Jinjo Oracle stands near where Grunty would eventually be buried. Honey B.'s Hive is located just beside the bridge across Spiral Mountain's moat. Gruntilda's Lair (here referred to as Grunty's Castle) is still under construction at this point.

Interestingly, a gigantic rock bust of King Jingaling (or perhaps an ancestor of his) lies strewn beneath the entrance to Gruntilda's Lair, half-buried in the undergrowth. This suggests that the Jinjos once lived in Spiral Mountain, and Gruntilda appropriated their home. This may explain why Jinjos need to be rescued from within the levels of Grunty's Lair during Banjo-Kazooie.

Two years after Banjo-Kazooie, Gruntilda is rescued from her boulder-capped grave thanks to the help of her sisters Blobbelda and Mingella. The now-skeletal Gruntilda incinerates Banjo's house with a powerful magic spell, and flees to the Isle O' Hags through the massive tunnel her sisters bore through the cliffs of Spiral Mountain with their drill-equipped HAG 1 tank. Spiral Mountain is further damaged by the various minions the witches deployed, who gouge chunks out of the world's rock faces, uproot trees, and demolish the world's bridges. Gruntilda's own lair is badly scarred too; its entrance bust has crumbled and lost its left eye jewel, and cave-ins now block access to a majority of its interior.

A number of previously inaccessible areas within Spiral Mountain become available to Banjo and Kazooie in this game, for example a large cave at the top of one of the world's waterfalls, and a cave above the tree stump area.

Spiral Mountain's melody is reprised from the first game, but this time in a minor key and with a much more melancholy mood.

Ten years after Banjo-Kazooie, Grunty - now reduced to just a skeletal head - finally manages to flail her way back to Spiral Mountain from the Isle O' Hags. Just as she confronts Banjo and Kazooie, the Lord of Games (creator of all videogames) suddenly appears and whisks the bear, bird, and witch away to Showdown Town, where they must complete various challenges as they compete for ownership of Spiral Mountain. Spiral Mountain appears again as the final level of the game.

Spiral Mountain is significantly expanded in this game, with a steep mountain range extending out and upwards beyond the world's cliffside perimeter in the previous games. The world has mostly recovered from the damage inflicted by Grunty and her minions during Banjo-Tooie, though it still shows signs of wear. Grunty's Lair and the tunnel to the Isle O' Hags have now caved in. Strangely, the bust of Grunty's Lair is missing the opposite eye jewel to the one that fell out in Banjo-Tooie. Banjo and Kazooie have repaired their house and settled into a lazy, adventure-free lifestyle there. A gravestone marks the spot where Bottles briefly died, and a rubbish skip is now located near Banjo's house possibly as part of the renovations the bear and bird carried out on their home. A newly accessible cave entrance can be found upstream of Spiral Mountain's second waterfall, but it is blocked off and cannot be entered.

A relaxing bluegrass arrangement of Spiral Mountain's theme is used for this version of the level.

3. Race around the mountain while switching between land, water and air.

4. Shoot all the giant floating targets

5. Deliver the three honeycombs from the stumps to the top of the mountain.

6. Push all the cube-shaped vegetables out of the area.

Between all of these challenges L.O.G. will ask you four trivia questions in true Banjo-Kazooie fashion. Each correct answer gives you five extra seconds.

All the challenges are included in one overall timer. Earning the Jiggy time gets you six Jiggies. The same goes for Notes and T.T. Trophy.

7. Spiral Mountain Showdown

Talk to Grunty outside Banjo's House

Destroy all five of Grunty's vehicles using only one vehicle.

1. This Monster Truck is fast and tough, something homing would be fine enough.
2. This galleon stays in the lake, she's in one place - a piece of cake!.
3. Now invisibility is her power, destroy the vehicle and make her cower!
4. This immobile vehicle can only hop, get underneath to make her stop.
5. Grunty's up to her old tricks, she flies a jet-powered broomstick. The broom is very quick and strong, making the battle extra long!

Defeating Grunty beats the game and sends the witch to L.O.G.'s video game factory, which is strangely underneath Spiral Mountain.

Spiral Mountain is the only world in the Banjo-Kazooie series to appear in all of the games.

In Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, you can make your way to the area above Banjo's house, then there are multiple ways to get to the top layer of the level. Surprisingly, this can all be done by walking.

You cannot enter Banjo's house in Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts during normal gameplay.